SYDNEY (AFP) - As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes.

AFP/File Photo

Professor Ray Cas of Monash University's School of Geosciences said the world's biggest super volcano was Lake Toba, on Indonesia's island of Sumatra, site of both the recent massive earthquakes.

Cas told Australian media Friday that Toba sits on a faultline running down the middle of Sumatra -- just where some seismologists say a third earthquake might strike following the 9.0 magnitude quake on December 26 and Monday's 8.7 temblor.

Those quakes occurred along faultlines running just off Sumatra's west coast and created seismological stresses which could hasten an eruption.

Cas said Toba last erupted 73,000 years ago in an event so massive that it altered the entire world's climate.

"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.

The scientist said super volcanos represented the greatest potential hazard on earth, "the only greater threat being an asteroid impact from space".

"A super volcano will definitely erupt," he said.

"It could be in a few, 50 or another 1000 years but sooner or later one is going to go off."

Other super volcanos are found in Italy, South America, the United States and New Zealand -- where Mount Taupo could be ready for eruption.

"It has a big eruption every 2,000 years, and it last erupted about 2,000 years ago," Cas said.

The potential death toll from a super volcano eruption "could reach the hundreds of thousands to millions and there are serious implications on climate, weather and viability of food production," Cas said.

"The big problem is a lot of the volcanoes that potentially could erupt are perhaps not monitored to the degree that they should be, and of course we learnt that lesson from the Boxing Day tsunami disaster," he said.

"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.

Well dang. Guess we better get busy warming up the globe in preparation.

6
posted on 04/01/2005 3:09:54 PM PST
by sionnsar
(†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† || Iran Azadi || Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?)

Krakatoa...which erupted in the 1880's..was the world's largest recorded eruption...The island, which is located on the same fault line..literally blew itself apart..90% of it disappeared. In the 1920's..the volcano erupted out of ther ocean floor..and stated to rebuilt itself..there is now a new island, and it is the SAME height as Krakatoa before it erupted..

8
posted on 04/01/2005 3:11:06 PM PST
by ken5050
(The Dem party is as dead as the NHL)

I just returned from Hawaii and visited the lava flows. I quickly learned that there is nothing you can do about molten rock. It sort of goes wherever the hell it wants to and the ocean can't even stop it.

Yes there is. I live on the west coast of Aus. This has been on non-stop since Easter Monday's quake.

Some expect Anak Krakaton to explode like its parent Krakatoa. Others point to this Super Volcano. One scientist in Perth was talking about the whole Ring of Fire going up. All cheer and sunshine down under.

Other super volcanos are found in Italy, South America, the United States and New Zealand -- where Mount Taupo could be ready for eruption.

I d be very interested to learn how he draws the line of 'super' There are definitely volcanos that are much bigger than most volcanos, but I don't think any of them are in Italy or the US. Anyone know which he considers 'super' volcanos in these places? That said, a 'super' volcano can have major global climatic effect. The New England colonies once had the 'year without summer' (snow in July and Aug) due to an eruption in the Pacific.

20
posted on 04/01/2005 3:19:35 PM PST
by blanknoone
(Steyn: "The Dems are all exit and no strategy")

"The eruption released 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock debris into the atmosphere, much of it as fine ash which blocked out solar radiation, kicking the world back into an ice age," he said.

The biggest badest volcano of them all is right here in the good old USA,Yellowstone, and it goes off large about every 600,000 years. And the last large eruption was, you guessed it, 600,000 years ago.

I would love to have seen Krakatoa when she blew. My father spent many years retelling me the story of how a ship in English waters heard the explosion and thought it was a nearby ship in distress.

I'd also would've love to have seen Vesuvius when she blew. Pliny the Elder did, but then he and his little boat were 'bye bye' after he saw it, so I guess I will just have to postpone my Sumatra vacation and ask those living there to GET THE HECK OUTATHERE!

A large portion of Yellowstone National Park is said to be a super-volcanic crater visible from space, more than 40 miles in diameter - last erupted 600,000 years ago and is supposed to be due for another mega-blast that could swaddle the planet in ash.... forget global warming, we'll be talking major ice age.... if that one goes off it will leave most other enviro-horror scenarios in the dust.... literally. Hope it waits at least a few hundred or thousand years more, until humanity has better ways of coping....

That is what some astronomers say, the earth's natural wobble would be much greater without the moon, so great that there wouldn't be a stable climate zone for lifeforms to find their niches. Maybe so. One of the outer planets is spinning so far over on its axis that the seasons are as radical as possible. Summer at the pole lasts for years with the sun way overhead. Then winter with no sun for more years. If earth did that the arctic would boil dry and the antarctic likewise. Not life friendly.

I'm very very far from expert on any of this, but I think it's on such a massive scale that any hole we could bore would be inadequate..... but maybe if we excavate an area a few miles across.... but maybe we'll just speed up the natural catastrophe as all h--- breaks loose when the lava gets exposed. I have no idea if there's anything humanity can do about it, but I sure hope someone knowledgeable is thinking about it! We won't have to talk about global warming anymore if any of these super-volcanoes acts up....

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